Freeport was founded in 1912 (then called Freeport Sulphur) in Freeport, Texas and currently employs over 36,000 people and is the US’ largest miner. According to a Wall Street Journal report today, Aaron Regent’s private equity firm, Magris Resources, is among the bidders for Freeport-McMoRan’s (FCX:NYSE) Candelaria copper mine in Chile which could raise multiple billions of… Continue Reading
The London-based gold fund, Baker Steel (named after co-founders Trevor Steel and David Baker), have made their first investment in shale oil. The investment firm has solely focused on metals companies, but given the similarities between the extraction and processing of shale oil and metals, the firm is comfortable with the space. Baker Steel bought 3.3… Continue Reading
This morning, after a month of battling, Timmins Gold (TMM:TSX) and their 17% dissident shareholder, Sentry Investments have come to an agreement on the composition of the company’s Board of Directors. After Sentry proposed a new slate, the investment fund that manages over $14 billion in assets accepted Timmins’ proposed Board of seven nominees as long as they could… Continue Reading
“A miners’ legend has it that Satan lives in gold mines.” The New Yorker is out with an incredible long form survival story. In 2010, 33 workers at the San José Mine in Chile’s Atacama desert were trapped 2000 feet below the surface for 69 days with barely enough food to keep them alive, and only oil tainted… Continue Reading
Vancouver’s Aquilini family have built one of the most substantial business empires in Canada from scratch, starting from humble beginnings in a $4 a month bathroom-less rental home in 1953. At the time, family patriarch Luigi bathed in a river. Fast forward sixty years and the Aquilini family now control a multi-billion real estate empire, not to mention… Continue Reading
BusinessWeek has a short piece out profiling Gerry Schwartz who left Bear Sterns a few months after Jerome Kohlberg, Henry Kravis and George Roberts in 1976 (founders of private equity giant KKR). Schwartz, a Canadian, brought the same LBO platform home to Canada and founded Onex which has returned over 28% annually over the past 30… Continue Reading
Some quality material that we are reading this morning: Pension Partners: From Alpha to Beta: A Long/Short Story Bloomberg: How to Win $20 Million at Poker The Big Picture: Single Variable Market Analysis is for Losers Bloomberg: Google Just Made Big Data Expertise Much Tougher to Fake TraderFeed: Mucking Your Trading Hand
After bumping their original share and cash offer for Suroco up 33% (from $0.60 to $0.80 per share), Petroamerica Oil (PTA:TSXV) told investors this morning that their $0.80 offer would be the final one. Suroco’s Board is standing by Petroamerica’s offer as well. On April 28th, Petroamerica announced they had reached an agreement with the Board of… Continue Reading
Endeavour Mining (EDV:TSX) which operates four mines in Western Africa has continued their track record of delivering projects on time and on budget. Late yesterday, the company announced the completion of development at their Segala underground mine (part of their Tabakoto project) which allows Endeavour miners to access higher-grade ore and process it through the… Continue Reading
Last Friday the Chicago Board Options Exchange SKEW Index rose to its highest level since 1998: Click to enlarge What is SKEW you might ask? From the CBOE website: “CBOE SKEW Index values, which are calculated from weighted strips of out-of-the-money S&P 500 options, rise to higher levels as investors become more fearful of… Continue Reading
It has been over a month since the market heard operational news out from Africa Oil (AOI:TSX). This morning, investors received a nice surprise in the form of a new gas discovery on the company’s Block 9 in Kenya. In an upper gas interval in the Sala-1 well, the company tested 6 million cubic feet per… Continue Reading
Here is Richard Chilton, the billionaire founder of Chilton Investment Company, a hedge fund firm that manages more than $6 billion, discussing the formative years of his career on Wall Street. When Chilton was just a small company its founder believed it was going to be a big firm and planned accordingly. This unwavering faith… Continue Reading
While the FIFA World Cup remains the highlight of Brazil today with a couple a good matches (the Netherlands continued their winning streak with a 3-2 victory over Australia this morning); another story in Brazil is receiving attention. This time it is Stan Bharti’s Belo Sun Mining (BSX:TSX) which is developing the Volta Grande gold project… Continue Reading
The fully-funded developer, Asanko Gold (AKG:TSX) has provided an update on its early works program and front-end engineering ahead of their Board’s final investment decision as well as groundbreaking ceremony at their Asanko Gold Project in August. The project early works remain on time and on budget. Asanko also provided an update on the resettlement action plan… Continue Reading
According to a report published by The Mining Recruitment Group (MRG), a Vancouver-based mining executive recruitment firm, executives are growing more confident in their industry as a new wave of M&A and relief from falling commodity prices have brought a shot of life into the industry. The report, we surveyed 232 mining executives reported a number… Continue Reading
